Swimming seniors go out with win

It was important to the seniors of the IU women's swim team to go out with a bang. And they did just that in overpowering South Eastern Conference-foe Kentucky on Senior Day. IU won the dual meet 135-102 after swimming several of the later events as "exhibition" events, in efforts to not run up the score.\nThe Hoosiers, who moved to 8-1 (5-1 Big Ten), ran away with the dual meet from the beginning. In the first event of the night, IU took first in the 400-yard medley relay with the team of junior Meghan Medendorp, senior Megan Geers and sophomores Tammy Kostner and Erin Smith.\nThe early victory helped set the tone on an already emotional night, and the Hoosiers continued to net individual win after win. In addition to her swim in the medley relay, Medendorp won the 50-yard freestyle. Junior Sarah Fiden (1000-yard freestyle), freshman Doherty Colgin (200-yard freestyle) and seniors Tina Gretlund (200-yard individual medley), Kristy Martin (200-yard butterfly) and Anne Williams (100-yard butterfly) also earned first place finishes.\n"Everyone seemed to swim well today," Gretlund said. "The team atmosphere was great for our last meet (at home), and it was really emotional for all of us."\nAlso closing her collegiate career in Bloomington was senior diver and former Olympian Sara Hildebrand. A fifth-year senior, Hildebrand has set several IU diving records and been a multiple winner of the Big Ten Diver of the Week award during her tenure as a Hoosier. Ending her regular season competition, Hildebrand won both the one- and three-meter events and the platform exhibition event.\n"It was exciting," Hildebrand said. "College has been great, and it's a little strange for it to be almost over, but after five years I'm glad to see it come to an end."\nAs the meet wore on, the Hoosier lead stretched out to more than a hundred point margin, and the IU squad began to enter events only as exhibition swims to keep the score respectable for the Wildcats. But that didn't stop IU from swimming hard and winning.\nIn the 500-yard freestyle, freshman standout Lauren Lubus blew away her competition and swam a 4:56:05, a top-ten time in IU history.\n"It was great to be able to do that to wrap up the regular season," Lubus said. "At this point (in the season) everything is coming together. We're getting excited for Big Tens in a few weeks."\nTo close out the win and the last competitive swim of the year in the Counsilman Billingsley Aquatic Center, the "A" relay team won the final event in the 400-yard freestyle relay. Medendorp and Smith helped the two seniors, Gretlund and Williams, capture a win in their last regular season event.\n"Our relays were a lot better tonight," coach Dorsey Tierney said. "I was so excited for our seniors. They have been extremely loyal over the past four years. It has been my honor working with them. They should enjoy tonight, but we certainly have a lot more business to take care of."\nThe Hoosiers have two weeks off before the Big Ten Championship meet begins on Feb. 20 at Purdue.